The grocery bags now in general use in supermarkets are formed of a thin plastic material having a pair of upwardly extending handle loops on opposing sides of the bag. Once such bags are placed in an interior compartment of an automobile, such as a trunk or rear cargo space, the bags and their various contents, which have no lateral or suspension support, are subject to shifting and disorder, often resulting in spilled contents which have escaped their bag. Thus, a need exists for a grocery bag holding system for loading, storing, securing, and unloading such grocery bags in an interior cargo compartment of an automobile.
A variety of grocery bag holders, and like devices, have been described previously and are known in the related art. None of the grocery bag holders, however, are designed to solve the particular problem addressed by the present invention and none are capable of being modified to do so. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,971, issued to Dorman on Feb. 22, 1994, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,288, issued to Trubee on Jun. 27, 1995, each disclose grocery bag holders. Both Dorman and Trubee disclose the use of clamping hooks upon which to place grocery bag handles and thus secure the bags. Neither Dorman nor Trubee disclose a grocery bag bar holding system mounted in the rear interior quarter trim panel and including a retractable, pivotable, slidable, and removable bar device designed for securely holding in place conventional plastic grocery bags. Therefore, a need still exists for a simple, inexpensive, retractable, pivotable, slidable, and removable bar holding device that enables thin, plastic bags with handles to be anchored to a supporting structure in a vehicle to prevent the bags from shifting about and creating disorder.